Article from FT:
>The benefits to banks of having their staff work from home will “erode over time”, Citigroup’s investment banking boss Paco Ybarra warned as he made the case for offices hollowed out by the coronavirus pandemic...
>“At some point, you would see depreciation of that capital and then you would start seeing problems,” he added, pointing to the potential for difficulties with on-the-job learning and people’s ability to relate to each other. “Some of the feeling that we have about how well this thing works, I think will erode with time.”
Looks like Citi's head of IB is keen on having his teams back in the office for some good old fashion facetime ASAP.
I think professional services jobs are going to be the most culturally resistant to incorporating more WFH flexibility into schedules. Question to me is, if we fail to produce a vaccine within the next 12 months, at what point do senior bankers say "fuck it, you guys have to start coming back in."
Thoughts?
All it takes is 1 person to infect the whole office. If companies don't take proper precautions, they'll have a handful of lawsuits on the way. Outside of NYC might be a different story, but do you really want to work next to someone who commutes via subway everyday? Health and safety >>> some bs "facetime."
Not a banker but I do think the same places that require you to wear a tie will be the same places that make WFH “optional” when everyone knows you’ll be culled if you don’t come in.
It’s very weird to me how some people have this dying need to go into an office and this unusual loyalty to a specific firm. I agree WFH 100% can’t be as productive for most people. But there are times where people can be more productive. I think finding a good balance between office work and WFH (like seen in big tech) will come everywhere eventually. Maybe not while I’m still working, but eventually.
I actually lean towards the WFH thing not being so rosey and long lasting.
Sure, I think we peeled the band-aid off the occasional WFH one-offs, but not entirely (i.e. let’s hope we now have enough trust in WFH that after a late night flight we can WFH the next day).
One angle “everyone” is missing is the fact that humans are deeply jealous, petty, and insecure creatures (I am a cynical bastard).
It is working right now because EVERYONE is doing it. The second they start assigning waves to return to the building and groups feel comfortable going in, it will be a fist fight for getting in the door. No one is going to want to be left out. Insert the type-A personality race for facetime and being a part of the “in-office chosen winners”. The process will happen on its own. No lawsuits, no pressure, no complaints. We thrive on the in office politics and positioning in front of seniors and water station gossip. Once we know others are jockeying for that leg up and getting assignments in person our guts are going to twist and all of a sudden we are going to hate the WFH set up.
For instance, I cringe thinking about being the guy on a video monitor while the group is bantering in person before a meeting starts. Humans weren’t built for relationships through technology. Better than nothing, but not the solution quite yet.
Pile on the monkey shit mother f’ers...!
Nah no MS this is straight facts, hardos are the reason we can't have nice things unfortunately. Gotta worry about them always one upping you so you're forced to play their game too lmao
Hardos are the worst.
I can picture it now...
Traditional X firm vs. Y firm debates:
“Definitely Y firm. they work in office, which equals better modeling experience and exit opps. MFs only recruit from in-person analyst programs.”
The biggest issue i'm witnessing now, and we'll see this even more over the next 3-4 months, is training the new guys. It's been difficult to work with the 1st years remotely and they already had 7 months at the desk. This will be a much bigger challenge with the analysts that come this summer and will probably require micromanagement which i absolutely loathe (both to give and receive).
I'm not dying to go back to the office by any means, but i don't see this causing a huge shift in the IB work environment long-term. Hopefully 3-4 WFH days a month becomes the norm.
BANTER It also depends on people's personality. I love walking around the office and chatting with people. Going in the kitchen and showing cat videos to whoever is there. Some people hate it, and will put head phones on and focus on their job. On a trading floor you soak in the information from everyone around you, you just can't WFH on a trading floor.
In IB when you are an excel monkey and learning, you lean over your chair and ask the guy next to you how a sumproduct function works or what does EBITDA means. It's a lot harder to learn if you are at home. Call center job and basic blue collar type of office jobs - 100% those should be WFH and if I was running a call centre right now and could just cut my bill by not renting offices I'd do it in a heart beat. You'd get a lot of mother's coming back to work this way as well, as they'd be able to be home with their kids when school is off (am not talking mom's with new born babies - you just can't work when you have a baby around period!)
Am going no where wth this comment. But yea this crisis is fantastic in so many ways - someone mentioned Friday WFH introduced. GIVE ME THAT! Or even Monday and Friday WFH. I see a mix of WFH and office work in our future - and that is the fucking dream
Finance firms should just take this as a golden opportunity to improve retention by simply offering WFH on Friday and Monday. Would be a godsend in Europe - working from London but spending 4 days working from your home town / country or just having more time around your significant other? That would be an amazing benefit.
It begs the question too: Is there something worth preserving in the "finance / banking" culture? Sure, people will still have to work hard, but the notion of facetime for the sake of it in the 21st century is just beyond me. Many firms have proved that people will still work hard and well regardless - that's just how type A people work.
Finance should just strive to be as efficient as possible. Particularly when other great career opps in other industries start offering more flexibility.
Sure, Citi's head of IB is bored. His job's what? Flying around the world and meeting people face-to-face. Does he relate to the job of VPs, associates and analysts who slave away in an office and don't have a shred of a social life? Doubt it.
This is revealing to a broader audience what those on the inside already know: the industry is run by absolute dinosaurs and will not improve. * Senior bankers don't understand technology or what you can do with it. * They grew up in a sweatshop environment, in-office 7 days and 100 hours a week so that's the only way they know to run their team. (News flash: a lot of them feel like your 80 hour weeks in office with "protected Saturdays" were already too soft). * They love formal dress and are kicking and screaming not to change the dress code * All have stay-at-home wives who raised their kids for them, so they have 0 sympathy for working families, especially fathers
They do not see WFH as a productivity improvement or morale improvement. They see it as a giveaway and a softening of the new generation. So many of them would love to lock you all back down in the office all the time while they travel around again freely to hotels and restaurants. Rules for thee and not for me.
Sorry for the cynical take but this is true for at least 80%+ of IB MDs.
When there is a safe solution, I am a hard advocate for being back in the office since I think there is a lot of communication which is much more efficiently had in person. But my biggest reason is the separation of work and life. If I get out of bed and hop onto the work rig immediately, it destroys the sanctity of my apartment being a nice and chill location which separates my already busy work life with home. I definitely look forward to having that separation back as it has fatigued me a lot more than I thought it would